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The History Of Dundee
1832 Public Seminaries Charter
Excerpt from Charter by the Magistrates and Town Council in favour of the Directors of the Public Seminaries, 1832
The Charter of the ground is granted to the parties “But always in trust for being used for the Public Seminaries of Dundee under the said Act of the said Magistrates and Council, and under the declarations hereinafter specified.
“And it is also, at the request of our said disponees, specially provided and declared, and it shall be inserted in the instrument of sasine to follow hereon, and in all the future investitures of the said subjects, until the said subjects are permanently incorporated and vested in Trustees, and the said subjects are conveyed to our said disponees, and to be accepted of by them only under the condition that they shall be bound, at any time when required by a quorum of the Directors of the Public Seminaries of Dundee for the time being under the said Act of the Magistrates and Council, dated the twentieth day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty nine, to denude of the said subjects and the buildings to be erected thereon , and, at the expense of the said Directors, to convey the same to and in favour of the said Directors, or too and in favour of any Trustees to be fixed under any Crown Charter which may be obtained in terms of the thirteenth and fourteenth articles of the said Act of the Magistrates and Council, but that only in trust for the purpose of the said Seminaries; and it is also, at the request of our said disponees, provided and declared, and provision to the like effect shall be inserted in the infeftment to follow hereon, and in all the future investitures, whether in favour of the Directors or other Trustees or Incorporations, that if by any Act, direct or indirect of the Town Council, or any other body whatsoever, the patronage or government of the Public Seminaries of Dundee shall be vested in any public body or individuals, contrary to the constitution set forth in the said Act of the said Magistrates and Council, dated the twentieth day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty nine, the said ground hereby conveyed, and the buildings thereon, and whole other property acquired, or which may be acquired by the Directors, shall be at the disposal of certain public Trustees to be fixed by the subscribers to the Seminaries at a general meeting to be called for the purpose, in terms of the fourteenth article of the said constitution, in order that the said ground, buildings, and other property, shall be by these Trustees, or under their direction, either used for for public Seminaries altogether apart from an independent of the body or individuals through whom the said constitution has been overthrown, or sold, and the price applied by these Trustees, or under their direction, for promoting education in Dundee.”
The Town Council subscribed £500 from the common good towards the buildings and paid £2500 stipulated from the proceeds of the Ale and Beer Duty; and in the progress of the building the Directors were unable to pay the contractors the stipulated price for the erections. The Contractors raised legal proceedings for adjudging the property in payment of the balance due them of £1811, and procured a Degree of Adjudication in their favour of the whole subjects. The Town Council was then applied to to relive the buildings, and agreed to pay the contractors the balance of their claim, on conditions that the corner portions of the ground facing Euclid Crescent be given off, so as to round the street, and to depart from some of the stipulations as to surrounding buildings. This was done in 1837.
The stipulated payment to the Directors in respect of the Ale and Beer Duties was made until the act expired in 1848. The £11 payable from the Hospital Fund to the Grammer School Teacher is still paid to the High School Directors.